Thibodeaux was a four-year letterman at defensive tackle for LSU, and he was a good one, selected All-Southeastern Conference in 1979. But his name is forever etched in the generational memory of Tigers fans for one play late in a famous game against Southern Cal in September 1979.

With LSU leading 12-10 and less than four minutes remaining, the Trojans faced third-and-9 on their 36-yard line. Thibodeaux and McDonald, the Southern Cal quarterback, brushed against each other in the backfield, and Thibodeaux was penalized 15 yards.

Seven plays later, McDonald hit Kevin Williams for a touchdown that lifted No. 1 and undefeated USC to a 17-12 victory in the first game between the schools.

"Let's just say I whacked him on the top of his helmet, and he jerked his head around, and I think the ref -- in some kind of abundance of caution or something -- saw it as a face mask and called it, " Thibodeaux said. "Is that oblique enough for you?"

McDonald said that Thibodeaux brushed his face mask but did not grab it and that the call could have gone either way.

"It was a huge, huge call, obviously, " McDonald said. "I was kind of surprised we got the call, to tell you the truth."

When asked who committed the alleged act, McDonald claimed forgetfulness, but Thibodeaux said the two have spoken with each other more than once since that game, which many of the LSU faithful call the most electric night in Tiger Stadium's storied history.

Thibodeaux politely declined to provide specifics of those conversations.

Thibodeaux, a junior who cried openly in the Tigers' locker room that night, went on to become a successful businessman and now is an executive vice president of a bank in Georgia.

He joked that the only reason he agreed to discuss the game was because a reporter called him after 4 p.m. on a Friday when bank executives are widely presumed "to be agonizing over a 10-footer" on the golf course, as he put it.

"You know, that play is like a stepchild that has been attached to my side for 30 years now, " Thibodeaux said. "For a long, long time I didn't like it, but I'm comfortable with it now."